1. Field
The present invention relates generally to adaptive switching voltage regulators. More specifically, the present invention relates to embodiments for dynamically delaying one or more signals in an adaptive switching voltage regulator to reduce overlaps and non-overlaps of switching elements.
2. Background
An electronic device, such as a mobile telephone, may include a voltage regulator that receives an input voltage from a power supply and generates an output voltage for a load. An integrated circuit may include a voltage regulator for providing a stable voltage reference for on-chip components such as a digital component, an analog component, and/or a radio-frequency (RF) component.
A voltage regulator may comprise a switching voltage regulator, which rapidly switches a power transistor between saturation (i.e., completely on) and cutoff (i.e., completely off) with a variable duty cycle. A resulting rectangular waveform is low pass filtered in order to produce a nearly constant output voltage proportional to the average value of the duty cycle. One advantage of a switching voltage regulator compared to a linear voltage regulator is greater efficiency because the switching transistor dissipates little power as heat in either a saturated state or a cutoff state.
As understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art, a switching voltage regulator, which includes two switches (i.e., a top field-effect transistor (FET) and a bottom FET), may experience overlaps (i.e., when both switches are “on”) or non-overlaps (i.e., when neither switch is “on”). An “overlap” couples a battery directly to a ground voltage and, thus, energy is wasted. A “non-overlap,” causes undesirable “ringing”. Further, conventional voltage regulators, which switch the two switches coincidentally to attempt to minimize overlaps and non-overlaps, may experience overlaps and/or non-overlaps due to variable operating conditions (e.g., voltage or temperature).
A need exists for an enhanced switching voltage regulator. More specifically, a need exists for embodiments related to adaptive switching voltage regulator for dynamically adjusting one or more delays in an adaptive switching voltage regulator to reduce overlaps and non-overlaps.